The stupid Socks of Hate are done. I like wearing them–they are soft and colorful!

So, info on those:
Pattern: Anastasia Socks. Nice pattern, turns out pretty if you don’t frikkin read the charts backwards. Don’t be put off by my hatred of these socks. It wasn’t the patterns fault.
Yarn: S.R. Kertzer On Your Toes 4 Ply Mmm, I like this yarn. The self-striping fascinates me and makes me joyful. Even while knitting hated socks. It’s got aloe–so it makes my hands feel nice.
Hmm. I know I usually do my little survey thing full of all sorts of stuff when I finish stuff, but it’s after midnight and I’m sick and lazy still.

Moving on, second FO:

The hat. Modeled by the owner. I’m pretty proud of this–came straight outta my own head.
Pattern: Coming soon. When I’m not sick and lazy.
Yarn: Mmm Diamond Yarn Galway. My favorite worsted.

Continuing onward, I have a new sock. Just one so far.

My camera tried very hard to focus on the toe, but my shaky hand wouldn’t let it. Ah well. I LOVE this yarn. Mirasol Yarn Hacho
in the Northern Lights colorway, I believe. Love love love. Destined to, as it is sitting right next to the till at work. You know, right where I HAVE to paw at it. Pretty stuff. And you can’t tell ’cause of the shaky hand fuzz, but it looks pretty nice in Knitty’s Broadripple pattern. I wanted these socks to be jaywalkers, but as it is a DK, that was just not happening. But I love them just the same. In fact, on Rav, they are labeled the Socks of Love.

And, lastly, the sooo close to being completed Split Personality Mitts.

They need ends woven in, buttons and one thumb. I’ve discovered I’m a bit too lazy for thumbs. I don’t like afterthought thumbs in particular. But, I think I’m gonna like these when they are done. They are all warm and cozy.

Are these not the cutest little baskets ever? Actually, they aren’t. They are a wretched color and kinda weird looking. But I got them for a buck and they are perfect size for holding a hat or mitts or socks or other small project in progress. And that is a good thing for me. I’m almost always big-project-deprived. I’m also always hunting for that last stupid DPN that insists on running away when I toss the little WIP on the floor. These little baskets will work as excellent DPN cages, I hope.

So, what knitting have I done recently you ask? I’m working hard on those stupid Socks of Hate recently. I’m determined to get them done so that I can wear holes into them. I despise these socks. Don’t get me wrong, the yarn is awesome. The pattern is fine. But these socks suck. I hate them. Luckily, I just have the leg to do now. Then, I can move on. Onto some sock pattern that works well with the frikkin amazing Hacho yarn that is sitting right next to the till at the Yarn Barn. . . you know, right within fondling distance.

I finished the hat. Ignore the stupid expressions again, and also the random bow. I figured posting my phone number on my blog wasn’t a good idea :P I might do some tidying on the hat at some point. I will get some pics of it on the BF (who’s 20 tomorrow, btw) so you can see that it isn’t totally strangely shaped. I’ll get a pattern up sooner or later–the SUP team stole my laptop with the layout program when I told them I wasn’t doing layout this time around. Seeing as that’s the program I use for patterns, I’m in a bit of a bind. Oh, and it turns out that they didn’t have to steal it. The afternoon after they took over, I got an email saying that my portfolio isn’t actually due until March 31, not this coming Tuesday. Which is quite nice, seeing as I’ve been sleeping and watching TV and generally being lazy/dying of the flu all weekend.

And here’s one almost finished Split Personality Mitt and the beginning of another. I have no button collection, so I’m going on a button hunt at some point to finish them. They are growing on me actually–I know earlier I was complaining, but I’m blaming that on the yarn. Sirdar Click (the grey one) isn’t my favorite. It’s got no “sproing” to it. It’s kind of rough. The Michell & CIA Luxury Collection Fine Merino Superwash DK (red stuff) is effin awesome. Sooo soft. Sooo pretty. My favorite DK so far. I decided to be a bit of a rebel and start the other mitt with red this time.

I’m pretty stoked on the hat so far. I mean, sure it looks pretty lumpy and not so great right now, but that’s because there’s this needle poking into the poor styrofoam head. This is going to be one WARM hat. I’m going to have to do some tidying duplicate stitch–I was working without a chart, so it got kind of messy. Once I figure it out, it’ll be good. It got a lot of comments at work. I’m loving the needles, too. Bamboo and they are just hitting that stage where they become butter-like. Mmm, soft and smooth needles. Diamond Yarn Galway is a pleasure to work with. So soft to knit and really quite inexpensive. I think that it has become my go-to worsted weight wool. Yay!

Oh, and hey, look, the start of a second sock. I am determined to beat second sock syndrome.

I got a letter from the university I applied to today. Turns out I need to have my portfolio done in a week. So, that’s 10 art pieces, 5 arts-y type pieces (knitting counts :P), tech-stuff, 3 more sewing projects. So, after a minor breakdown where I panicked thinking there is no way I can do all of that in a week where I’m working 10-5 almost every day and have to do the layout for a newspaper, and celebrate V-day and BF’s b-day, I decided that this would be the next sewing project: (I’ve gotten to the pinning down of the pattern)

I’m also telling the newspaper to either push back a week or get another layout person for the issue. I feel kinda bad, because the last issue had massive SNAFU and didn’t even get published. But, hey, I don’t even go to the school it is published from anymore. I’m putting my education and work ahead of them.

But found some videos. Not the best quality–but I’m pretty sure they are taken sneakily. And who am I to complain–at least I get to see it. Here’s my favorite song (and the audience fave :P) I love the tap dancers, and think it is marvelous overall (except that crappy tenor sax. Man, whoever played that sucked. Ahem. Kidding. I love my playing) Seriously, play this. You can see what talent we’ve got. Plus, it is amusing.

So, I attempted to get a start on the Split Personality Mitts that I’m test knitting for Presents (the designer for Phoncible, which, btw is available in her etsy shop :) ), but needed yarn. The bamboo from Shea was eating away at me, begging to be knitted into something. I’ve also still got the brighter blue skein from Cbear’s destash, and some brown Red Heart Luster Sheen. The yarn she used was Reynolds Sea Soft Wool, a DK wool. I can’t really get my hands on that, small town, limited selection, but the bamboo is DK and luster sheen is sport, so I figured close enough. But, I decided to be a good knitter for once and swatch. (ok, ok, I had an ulterior motive. I wanted to see which of the bamboo shades I liked more with the chocolate-y brown yarn.)

What did I learn from the swatching? A couple of things, actually.

1. I prefer the lighter blue with the brown. :)
2. Acrylic isn’t very warm. Neither is bamboo.
3. SWTC Bamboo is sooo soft and nice to work with. I LOVE IT.
4. 5 sts to the inch in bamboo DK and acrylic sport is very hole-y.
5. Neither bamboo or acrylic holds ribbing very well.

Overall? I’m not using those yarns to make mitts. Maybe a nice tank top or something, at a tighter gauge. So, I went out and bought some more yarn to do this in. One skein of the same Fine Merino Superwash DK that I made the Pit-able mitts in, except in red (yes, red, not hot pink :P) and Sirdar Click in some wierd tan-ish colorway with hints of red.

Here’s the latest progress pics. The first is definitely closest to the true colors, taken with some natural light while at work. The second is just before adding the thumb and taken while watching old episodes of Lost.

Then, on the hand. It’s kinda big on me–but I have tiny wrists. I’m finding the loose gauge a bit annoying. The needles are huge for the yarn weight. Actually, checking Rav, they are only a size up–size 6’s are recommended for both. But, I used size 2’s with the Fine Merino Superwash for the Pit-able Mitts, and loved the fabric. With the same yarn, size 7’s are making a much different fabric. I’m finding it really difficult to stop laddering between needles. But, they are sooo soft, and I’m sure a bigger-handed friend will love them. This other pic may look like the beginning of mitt 2, but it isn’t. They are called Split Personality Mitts because they are convertible. So, that is going to the be the mitten top.

And here’s a pic of the hat. I’ve got the question mark done, shrunk waaaay down from the last one, and have the stitches waiting for the other band to be finished. I’m now knitting downwards, and am going to put in the exclamation mark, then knit the two sides together. Exciting stuff.

Oh, I’ve been tagged!
Melanie (Lilknitter) tagged me for The Power of 7.

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I’m Rabbit

Your Score: Rabbit

You scored 21 Ego, 14 Anxiety, and 18 Agency!

IT was going to be one of Rabbit’s busy days. As soon as he
woke up he felt important, as if everything depended upon him.
It was just the day for Organizing Something, or for Writing a
Notice Signed Rabbit, or for Seeing What Everybody Else Thought
About It. It was a perfect morning for hurrying round to Pooh,
and saying, “Very well, then, I’ll tell Piglet,” and then going
to Piglet, and saying, “Pooh thinks–but perhaps I’d better see
Owl first.” It was a Captainish sort of day, when everybody
said, “Yes, Rabbit ” and “No, Rabbit,” and waited until he had
told them.

You scored as Rabbit!

ABOUT RABBIT: Rabbit is generally considered Clever by his many friends and relations. He is actually a much better reader and writer than Owl, but he doesn’t consider it worth mentioning. Instead, Rabbit’s real talent lies in Organizing Plans. He organizes rescue parties, makes schemes to reduce Tigger’s bounciness, and goes on missions to find out what Christopher Robin does when he’s not at the Hundred Acre Woods. Sometimes, however, his Plans do not always go as Planned.

WHAT THIS SAYS ABOUT YOU: You are smart, practical and you plan ahead. People sometimes think that you don’t stress or worry, but this is not the case. You are the kind of person who worries in a practical way. You think a) What are my anxieties about and b)what can be done about them? No useless fretting for you. You don’t see the point in sitting around and waiting for things to work out, when you could actually work them out today and save yourself a lot of time and worry. Your friends tend to rely on you, because they know that they can trust you help them work things out.

You sometimes tend to be impatient with people who are less practical in their ways. You don’t have much patience for idiots who moan about things but never actually DO anything about them. You have high expectations of everyone, including yourself. When you don’t succeed at something, or when something goes wrong despite your best efforts to prevent it, you can get quite hard on yourself. You need to cut yourself some slack and accept that everyone has their faults, even you, and THAT IS OKAY. Let yourself be faulty, every now and then, for the sake of your own sanity.

2. I’ve managed to cut myself with butter. Today actually. If you look at the picture of my hand in the next post, there is a band aid on my thumb.

3. I can do some mad origami.

4. I’ve jumped out of a plane.

5. I believe that that quiz is wrong. I’m far too much of a procrastinator to be all of the planning stuff they describe.

6. I’m the secretary for the Green Party in my constituency.

7. I really really want to go to New Zealand

I now tag these 7 people and end this monster post :
Lauren
Alisha
Shea
Alex
MJ
Diane
Shaina

And I don’t like things that hurt my physics. It wasn’t actually as blue as it looks here, but the general idea stands. It should have been sorta grey-ish biege-ish like the second picture. But I still don’t like it.

What do I like? Hats. And bird-friends. The seagull sat in that same spot for 3 hours today. Ferseriously. That isn’t really a bad picture of him–for some reason it got pixilated between Flickr and here. Click on it and see. Plus, you get to see how horribly dirty that door is. And, hey, look, ocean view. Yep. A day sitting with yarn, knitting with an ocean view. I’m spoiled. There was even some sunshine today! And hail. And snow. And rain. Go figure.

You know what’s sad? That small amount of knitting took nearly all day. I had to cast on 3 times, because I fail at cast-on tail length. That takes a while when it’s frikking 216 sts. For a hat. Half have been slipped onto scrap yarn and will be knit into the inside side of the reversible band. That took a while too . . . this is going to be one time-consuming hat. I’m excited. :)

Which first? FO? 365? Zipper? LYS job? Jesus? Let’s do it a bit randomized.

1. First FO: Rose’s Wristwarmers


Mmm. Pretty. Soft. Super-fitted, so as to not get caught on an instrument. I added ribbing to the top and on the thumb to make them even more fitted. I used size 2 needles, not the recommended 4 because I wanted them tiny. I used Michell & CIA Luxury Collection Fine Merino Superwash DK (Rav link, I apologize. Can’t find info on ‘net for it.) which is an amazing yarn. Soo soft. Cables well. Ribs well. Kind of shiny. The pattern? I liked it. I’m not fond of the cables up the side–the pattern is written to imitate some tv character’s gloves (Rose, Dr Who, Doomsday. w/e. I made them ’cause the yarn and needles I had happened to get slightly smaller than gauge. Smaller enough to have perfect negative ease.) So those were copied from it. But they were too tightly woven for me. I did them, but wouldn’t if I were to make these again.

2. What they were made for–Jesus Christ Superstar. Opening Night tomorrow. I’m nervous and excited! It was a tight squeeze getting all of us into the pit. 4! flutes, plus a tenor, 2 trumpets, 1 horn, 2 trombones, 1 oboe, 1 clarinet, 1 bassoon, 1 guitar, 1 piano, 1 electric organ, 1 bass, 1 drummer, 1 conductor. That is a lot of people to put into a small dark hole. The last practice was a bit of a nightmare. We didn’t start until 45 minute after we were supposed to, and that is after half an hour of sitting waiting for the mike check to happen for the second time (power outage. Apparently that kills the calibration of the mikes. Wish they told the band that so we didn’t have to sit there in the cold hole waiting AGAIN.) Then, because we started late, we only got a 5 minute break for the intermission. Ugh. But, it should be good. Thursday’s show is practically sold out, which almost never happens here. Exciting! I’m attempting to track down some pictures of the dress rehearsal for SUP. We can’t take pictures of the show itself. If I can, I’ll post a few here too!
3. The zipper. Why not?
   
   I sewed a zipper. All by myself. (Eww, my hand looks funny! Creepy long-ness.) And the plaid almost matches! I’m gonna have to pull in the ends at some point, but I’m pretty proud of myself. Now I just have to finish the pant-things and start on the new stuff. The school I’m applying to requires quite the portfolio:
   

   a. Level of creativity: a portfolio of work containing 15-20 original pieces. Work should be recent and varied in nature:
   • Art/Fine art work — painting, sketches, drawings, prints, in a variety of mediums.
   • Craft work — embroidery, weaving, fabric arts, knitting, macramé, beadwork, etc.
   • Applied Art — photography, pottery, 3D sculpture, models, etc.
   b. Technical skills: minimum of four different garments (e.g., blouse, dress, skirt, pants, suit, etc.) demonstrating a range of techniques to include darts, zippers, pockets, sleeves and collars.
   • Mechanical drafts — of buildings, industrial designs, garment patterns, etc.
   c. Communication skills: immediately prior to the interview, you will be required to write a brief paragraph on a selected topic.
   d. Math skills: a short math test involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions and decimals will be administered at the same time.

   It’s somewhat scary, but I’ve got most of it already. I’m not too worried about the English and Math stuff, or even the craft stuff. Painting, beading, photography, I can do at least somewhat well. It’s the garments. Scary things, those sewing patterns.

4. Off that note, here’s another FO. The Quest Giver Hat. I’m not too impressed with this–hat itself, or the photography of it. The fit is a bit weird (overly enhanced on me. Made for my bf, who has a bigger skull. But it’s a weird fit even on him.) and the colorwork is crappy. I tried to do some strange stranding thing, and it all bunched and pulled and made stuff awkward. Not so great. So, I’m gonna re-make it. This time, it will fit. It will be reversible. The question mark won’t be so huge, and will flip to be an exclamation mark so that people can actually ask for quests. (WoW players out there? :P) In short, it will rock. And, it will come with a pattern and better pictures–WITHOUT my old bathroom light switch, and WITH the boyfriend modeling it. But, first I have to make it. And, to make it, I need more yarn. For more yarn, I need a LYS . . .
   
5. So, how about a local yarn shop that I work at! Yep! Yay! I’m going in for my first day tomorrow. I start at 12, learn the ropes (or yarn. Bad joke.) and am on my own at 2. Exciting exciting. Tomorrow is very exciting. I’m gonna be working there for a few weeks while the owner goes off traveling! I think that it’s gonna be great. Every knitters dream, right? To hang out in a yarn store all day?
6. Last thing. Project 365. With this photo, I drop it.
   I’m just not liking the amount of forced-ness I need for it. Making sure to take a picture everyday, hoping that I like it, taking more and more to make sure I like it, deleting, sorting, uploading, more sorting once uploaded. I’m still gonna be a shutter-bug, but I’m not going to force myself. It’s sort of like the way I blog, I think. I tried the organized blog thing–I started with the knit blog, life blog, FO gallery blog, and book blog. Slowly, they all died but this one. Everything gets tossed in here now, but that’s the way I like it (I apologize if you are just here for the knitting. Sort of. The other part of me is saying “Suck it up, princess.” I wonder how many readers I dropped for saying that. If you are leaving because of that, would you mind leaving me a comment saying so? I’m curious :P) Then, with this blog, I tried the WIP Wednesday, YPF, and even my random vague attempt at Media Monday. All gone. Too organized. I blog when I do because I want to. I post pictures of WIP progress when I want to, not because it’s Wednesday. And photography is like that, too. I’ll take a picture, or 20, when I feel like it, not because I have to everyday. And a lot will be posted here, because that is the way I am.

On that note, I’m out. I figure that essay-post is enough for one night, don’tcha think? I should get some sleep–big day coming up! (Oh, and I’m still suffering from second sock syndrome. sigh)

Knitters totally rock. How do I know? Because they create awesome things. Sweaters, socks, scarves, chain mail . . .

Yes, I said chain mail.Why, look! Monty Python and the Holy Grail. What is that they are wearing? Garter Stitch chain mail. Knitting is officially the coolest thing ever.

More proof that knitters totally rock? They have blog contests and share yarn with each other! With extra goodies thrown in, too!


And here’s the pretty yarn that I won for knowing that I wouldn’t be able to only work on three projects at once :P Thank you sooo much, Shea! It was all wrapped up nice and pretty, but I was too excited to track down my camera before digging in and pawing at the pretty pretty yarn. It is slightly less bright than the picture makes it seem–for some reason, my camera is turning everything blue today. She even sent some tea, too! The pile there was seriously depleted before the camera got there. I’m a tea-o-holic, and my boyfriend laid claim on a couple before the camera made it’s appearance. Apparently he really like blueberry tea, who knew!

Hey, look, alien brains! Again with the camera playing up the blue. The yarn turned out more . . . lavender. With random pink and blue patches. Of course, I having never dyed yarn before, did not tie the yarn tightly enough to avoid tangling. So, now I’m gonna be spending a few hours wrestling with 945 yards of tangled, lavender yarn. Complete with a highly technological ball-winding bead tube. Now, to find myself a series to watch . . . finished The O.C. Just watched all the Star Wars and Harry Potter movies . . . hmm. My mom has three seasons of Lost on DVD . . .

And, in other news, I’m probably going to be working in a yarn store for a couple of weeks! Yay! And I successfully sewed a zipper into a pair of pants! I just need to figure out how to stop my machine from bunching up the fabric. Some weird tension thing.